The Reason Why
by Xx.BiteMeh.xX
Summary: "By the time you listen to this, I've been gone a whole day or two. Yep. I mean gone. And do you want to know why I'm gone? Because Fang, honey, you're the reason why." Loosely based off of Th1rteen R3asons Why by Jay Asher.


**Hello!**

**So I know I haven't been updating my other story, and I delted "A Different Way" because it wasn't working out, but I really wanted to write this. This is a one-shot loosely based on "Th1rteen R3asons Why" by Jay Asher, and I really wanted to write a MR one-shot based on it. So I hope you like it. (:**

**Disclaimer: I'm pretty sure James Patterson isn't a little 12-year-old sitting in her computer room writing Maximum Ride fanfiction... (forever alone... *tear*)**

\ My fingers tremble as I touch the box. I run my hand over the rough, dusty surface of it. I can feel eyes on me, watching me as I sit in the chair paralyzed. Silence fills the room and I'm only aware of my jagged breathing and the sound of my heart pounding against my chest. I close my eyes, wanting the pain to go away, to disappear.

"Fang." Someone taps my shoulder. "Hey-are you okay?" The hand gently grips my shoulder.

I sigh, bringing my hand to my forehead and rubbing my temples. "Yeah," I say quietly.

Maya doesn't let go of my shoulder. She stands there and waits. When she realizes I'm probably not going to move for a long time, she slides her hand off and walks away.

I bring my head to my hands and run my trembling fingers through my hair stressfully. I open my eyes gently and look at the box.

_Max._

The name overwhelms my empty mind and I grimace. The pain is terrifying.

_Oh Max... does it have to end like this?_

I study the box. Iggy had somehow located us in this ratty hotel in Colorado and knocked at the door. I was surprised to see him, especially in his state. His hair was a mess, and his eyes were dead; lifeless. Silently and glumly, he placed the box he was holding and dropped it in my arms. Quietly, as he brought his blind, blue eyes to his shoes, he said, "Max wanted me to give this to you."

I waited for him to continue, but he just stood there. "Why didn't she just come give it to me, then?" I asked him.

Iggy shuffled his feet. He didn't look up again. I knew something was very wrong, but I didn't ask. I wasn't part of his life anymore.

And then, as minutes passed, Iggy said the most frightening words ever. "Because Max can't anymore," he breathed. Then, without another word, he turned and walked away.

My heart had stopped.

The world spun around me and black dots clouded my vision.

Max.

Max.

Max.

Max was gone.

I painfully manage to lift my head up to look at the box as the memory fades. Did I want to open it? Did I really want to know why Max had given me this?

No. I_ needed _to know.

Painfully, I take the box in my hands and rip it open with scissors. As I open it, my heart keeps beating at a fast pace, my breath held.

I open he box.

Inside, is a note that says, "To Fang".

I close the flaps instantly.

I sink deeper into my chair. I squeeze my eyes shut and take deep breaths.

_Max_, whispers in my ears.

I finally gather the courage to open it again, the whole time I feel the pricks of tears behind my eyes.

I shakily set the note aside and unwrap the bubble wrap. A cassette tape is in my hands along with a Walkman and headphones.

A cassette tape?

What was on the cassette tape? Did I want to know?

_Yes, you do_, whispers the voice again. _For Max_.

I force myself to insert the cassette tape into the Walkman. I slide the headphones over my ears and I press **play**.

_Why hello there.  
_  
I press **stop**.

Oh god... it's _her _voice. _She _is speaking to me... it's _her_. The rough yet wonderful tone makes my stomach lurch as I say the name. "Max..."

I press **play**_._  
_  
If you're hearing this, I'm probably dead.  
_  
I close my eyes.

_And you're either a dumbass who stumbled along this, or you're Fang._

M breath hitches as she says my name._ "Fang." _Her voice...  
_  
That's right, Fang. This is for you buddy._

I press **stop** for the second time.

Standing up, I grip the table for support as I stumble across the room. My "gang" is absently watching me, whilst engrossed in the move Spider-Man. I know Maya is studying me. I don't look at her.

I press **play **as I walk out of the hotel room.

_Fang, you're probably wondering what the hell is happening._

Yep.

_And you're probably very confused. So let's explain, shall we?_

Good.

It's Tuesday right now. And Fang, you're probably listening to this on either a Thursday or a Friday.  
  
Friday, actually.

_I told Iggy to bring this to you on either Thursday or Friday, because by the time you listen to this, I've been gone a whole day or two._

Yep.

I mean gone.

And do you want to know why I'm gone?

Because Fang, honey, you're the reason why.

**Stop**

I don't stop walking as I exit hotel.

I feel like crying. I want to break down and fall. I want to bury myself into my sorrows and my grief. I want Max to be there to comfort me.

Only she won't.

Because I'm the reason she's gone.

**Play**

_Now, don't get me wrong Fang. You aren't actually the real reason, you're just a big part of it._

Let's start from the beginning, shall we?

Fang, you know how our story began. We started off as neighbours.

In cages.

And you were the first, real, person I talked to. Of course, both you and I spoke to Whitecoats and such, but they weren't real _because they had no minds or feelings. Because they weren't like _you_, Fang. They didn't know what I was going through. They didn't know the pain I felt. Only you did, Fang. Only you._

You were always there for me. You were by my side for everything. You were there when the Whitecoats had made me run my very first crazy maze at the age of 3. You held my hand when I came back and stayed with me while I cried of fear.

You were there when we met Iggy when we were 5. You were there when Nudge came along. You were there for everything.

I remember the first time you spoke to me. It was when we were 6, and Iggy was sleeping and Nudge was with the Whitecoats. I was crying because Iggy had just lost his sight. I was terrified that people could lose such things so precious to them. I told you, "People have really special things and I hate how we have to lose them." You had looked at me with those beautiful onyx eyes. You reached through the bars of the cage and held my hand like you did when we were 3. You told me, "You will never lose me."

I stop walking.

I reach out and grab the side of a building, I feel liked collapsing.

Oh Max...

The memories hurt me. Everything did, yet I keep listening.

_Fang, you meant the world to me. Everything. Even before we started becoming more than best friends, you were everything. You held me when I cried, you cared for me when I was sick- you were just _there.

_When Jeb left, the Flock was everything I had left of my life. I clung to the Flock for my life. They were my family._

But then Iggy stopped cooking. Gazzy stopped exploding things. Nudge stopped talking and Angel never cried anymore.

My support was gone.

And so I turned to you, Fang. Do you remember all those nights that I would climb into your bed and just cry into your shoulder? When we would lay there for hours holding each other and comforting each other?

We needed each other Fang.

But you left_ me._

We really had something, Fang. You and I. When we realized that just being best friends wasn't enough, we become more. My support become my lifeline.

I begin to walk again as I realize she means when we finally got together.  
  
Oh God, Max...

_Dylan tried to peel us away from each other, but we held on because we knew that we needed each other desperately and without each other, we would be gone._

And you knew that, right Fang? You knew I would be nothing _without you._

Of course I did, Max... I needed you too.  
_  
If you said yes, let me ask you something, Fang._

Why did you leave me?

**Stop**

I don't want to listen to it anymore. Guilt is washing over me, and I can't face it anymore.

I turn the corner and find myself in front of small café. I silently open the door and settle myself into a table.

A waitress comes and asks what I want.

Absently, I reply, "Just water, please." My voice is raspy.

The waitress shoots me a concerned look, but hurries away.

I wonder if they can see it. If they can see what I'm going through just by the look of my dead, exhausted eyes and my pale face.

I wonder if they know how deathly scared I am.

I sit there for a long time and take small sips from my water. Finally, I force myself to press **play**.

_When I came back from Total and Akila's wedding, I was sitting in the bathroom crying so hard as I read your letter. You told me it was for my own good._

But Fang, did you know that leaving meant complete horror to me? You were gone. I had lost my support, my lifeline, my eveything_. You told me it was for my own good, yet it never helped._

I run my hands over my face.  
_  
Do you remember the night after Jeb left when we were 13, Fang?_

Of course I do...

_Do you remember when I ran away?_

I swallow hard.

Yes, I did.

Max had flown off when we realized Jeb was not coming back. I waited all night for her by the back door and when she finally returned, I enveloped her into a hug. "Max," I had whispered into her hair.

She gently pulled away and looked at me solemnly with her once bright, chocolate brown eyes.

"Max, why?" I asked. "Why did you run away?"

She looked up at me and said, "Because sometimes, you have to run away just to see who follows."

_And you remember what I told you, right?_

"Sometimes, you have to run away just to see who follows."

I know you took that to heart, Fang, because every time I ran away, you either followed me and comforted me, or you stood there waiting for me to return. I would be gone hours, days, and you would just wait for me for me until I came back. If I was gone 4 days, you waited for four days without sleeping. You weren't literally following me, but I know you cared. You cared for me deeply.

I lean back and close my eyes. I just listen to Max's voice.  
_  
I waited for you when you left, Fang. Just like you did. I sat in my room for days without sleeping or eating because even though I didn't believe it, I still had hope you would come back and hold me and tell me that you'd never lose me._

But you never came back.

And so I gave up on waiting.

Fang, you didn't leave because you wanted me to follow you. You left because you wanted to get away, right?

My head aches and the world is spinning around me. I lunge forward for the ice water and bring it to my lips. I let it enter and the coldness helps me settle. I feel the world ease and I drown the last bit of my water. When lean back, I realize tears are in my eyes now. I begin to silently sob as I stand up dizzily. I slap down a $1 dollar bill on the counter and stagger out the door.

_Do you understand how it feels now, Fang?_

My stomach lurches and I shoot towards the edge of the sidewalk. Kneeling down, I vomit.

Physical pain courses through my body and emotional pain grips my heart, squeezing it until I let out a low sob.

_Do you finally know how it feels like to have something so important to you just _gone _without a goodbye?_

I hope you do know how it fucking feels, Fang, because I'm gone now.

I run all the way back to the hotel and manage to blindly get to my room. I fling open the door and instantly lunge into the washroom, ignoring the stares from the others.

I curl up in a ball, my body racking with sobs and cries. I grab my head and cover my eyes with my hands as tears begin to poor out like a powerful river.

_9-years-ago, when we were both lonely and unaware of everything, when we were only 6. You told me I would never lose you. _Ever. __

Yet I did, Fang, I did_ lose you._

And that broke me, Fang. You_ broke me. You will never be able to fix me now, because I'm gone._

Silence.

That is it.

That is officially the end of Maximum Ride.

And I am the reason for it.

** I hope you all liked it. :3**


End file.
